


I Am Not, And Never Will Be, Your Son

by Tiger_Mayfield



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe- David Adopts Max, Gen, Max's Parents are dicks, and david basically adopts him, but only kinda, dadvid, first chapter is just after camp by like a few months, idk if he actually will or not, max is eleven first chapter, no maxvid - Freeform, this is NOT MAXVID
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-01-04 17:52:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12173802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiger_Mayfield/pseuds/Tiger_Mayfield
Summary: The only source of light was the fluorescents on inside of the convenience store. The bright beams shone gently through the windows, not illuminating much, but enough that they could see each other clearly.David stepped out of the car. He looked down at Max, who looked right back up at him. Max was surprised to see no pity in his eyes, but instead something he couldn't quite identify. Somehow, his gaze gave him reassurance and was almost comforting.In that moment, Max didn't care about his tough guy act. He didn't care that it was David he was hugging as tightly as he could. He didn't care that David was seeing him in his weakest moment. At least David cared about him. At least someone did.





	1. The First Night

"And don't fucking come back!" He screamed, slamming the door in Max's face. Once again, his parents had kicked him out of the house in a drunken rage.

Max tried to stay calm, but he just couldn't. His breakdown began about half a block down from the house with a choked sob. He covered his mouth in a desperate attempt to stop it, and while he could choke back sobs, nothing was stopping the tears from relentlessly streaming down his face, dripping from his chin onto his hoodie and the ground.

He had no one he could go to. Neil's family lived states away, and Nikki's family was on vacation. Gwen was visiting family. He'd never gotten close with anyone else at camp, really. Dolph was weird, so was Preston, Nurf was a dick, he had a grudge against Harrison since the magic barfing incident, and Nerris was just... no. Max had no idea who he could stay with, considering he had no friends from school, either.

Scrolling through his contact list on his phone, his crying not ceasing, he paused when he got to the letter D. He then kept scrolling. No. Max was not desperate enough to stay and live with David, for any amount of time. As he got further down, he scrolled faster, more angrily, desperate to find anyone else he could stay with. Unfortunately, his only other contacts were other family members, who his parents would kill him for running away to.

David would have to do. Max sighed as he clicked on David's contact name, then clicking the phone button to call him. After two rings, David's chipper voice came through the receiver. "Hello?? Who is this??" He asked. Right, Max thought, I have his number, he doesn't have mine.

"It's uh..." Max cleared his throat, "Max, from camp." He sighed, as he felt his voice wavering. A sign of weakness.

"Oh, it's great to hear from you, Max!" David's smile could practically be heard in his voice, "How have the past few months been??"

"Uh... Alright, I guess..." Max shrugged, sniffling, "So uh... I kinda need you to come pick me up..." He spoke quietly.

There was a beat of silence. Max felt like a weight had dropped on his chest, feeling David's smile disappear. He knew David at least had a rough idea of what'd happened, considering his parents had to be called and reminded to pick him up from camp. David finally spoke up. "Well, where are you?" Max could hear his determination. After just composing himself, it made him want to break down crying again. He was cared about.

Within a half hour of Max telling David his location, he saw the familiar car pull up into the parking lot. Max had told David he was in a Wawa parking lot and walked there to meet him, so his parents wouldn't know he was picked up and staying somewhere.

The only source of light was the fluorescents on inside of the convenience store. The bright beams shone gently through the windows, not illuminating much, but enough that they could see each other clearly.

David stepped out of the car. He looked down at Max, who looked right back up at him. Max was surprised to see no pity in his eyes, but instead something he couldn't quite identify. Somehow, his gaze gave him reassurance and was almost comforting.

In that moment, Max didn't care about his tough guy act. He didn't care that it was David he was hugging as tightly as he could. He didn't care that David was seeing him in his weakest moment. At least David cared about him. At least someone did.

The car ride home was tense and silent, eerily so. David hadn't even put on the Farmer's Almanac, as usual, he instead kept his eyes on the road. Max found the lack of a smile on his face to be borderline disturbing, compared to the happy persona he'd always known him to have. Instead, he stared almost blankly ahead at the road, his hands at ten and two, gripping the steering wheel tightly. The aura of negativity he gave off made Max shiver, and suddenly he decided the scenery outside the window was far more interesting than David.

A solid 20 minutes into the car ride, David spoke up, though he didn't look at Max as he did. "You know, you can talk to me, Max." He spoke softly, and Max glanced over at him.

"Fuck off." Was all Max responded with, but he noticed David only smiled at that, which turned his own expression to a scowl.

Another ten or so minutes later, they arrived at David's house. It was an average house, but it was amazing in Max's eyes. He'd only ever known a shitty dump of a duplex in a bad neighborhood, so a house that didn't look like trash was a big change. However, he showed no change in emotion on his face, as David guided him inside gently.

It was a cold fall night, and considering all Max had was his blue hoodie and a black pair of sweatpants, he was shivering, to say the least. Being his usual, hospitable self, David went and grabbed a yellow blanket and put a teapot on the stove to heat up. 

"You can make yourself at home, Max." David invited him gently, though he was met with silence for a moment. Hands shoved in his pockets, Max looked down, before reluctantly hopping up on his sofa, sitting curled up in a ball to himself, shivering gently. Max watched as David draped the blanket over him, ruffling his hair gently. Max was too tired at this point to smack his hand away or make some stupid, witty remark.

The air was thick between them for a while. Tears were welling up in Max's eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Not again. When David walked back in with two mugs of tea, Max finally looked up, his eyes having been fixated on the floor. David sat gently on the sofa next to him, offering him a cup of tea. Max simply pushed his hand away, slowly and gently. He didn't have the energy to be mean about it.

David sighed, setting down the mug he'd offered Max on a coaster on the glass coffee table in front of the couch. Max stared at it for a moment, before shaking his head and burying it in his knees, which were curled up to him.

"Why?" Max asked, his voice muffled by his hoodie.

There was a beat of silence before David responded. "Why what, Max?" His tone was soft, no malice in his voice, only a hint of confusion, and a lot of concern.

"Why the fuck do you care about me, asshole?" Max looked up at him, his voice cracking on his last word, as tears stung at his eyes, "I was nothing but a total dickweed to you all fucking summer, and you fucking repay me by actually being fucking nice, David? By letting me stay with you when I can't stay at my house? Why don't you fucking hate me?"

David actually faltered at that. Max frowned, looking down again, guilt instantly welling up in his stomach, leaving a large, heavy pit. Somehow seeing how he'd affected David made him feel worse than most other things did.

"Well... I guess that's a simple answer." David shrugged, smiling sadly, "I see a lot of myself in you, Max, I really do. When I first went to Camp Campbell, I had the same cynicism as you, and I also tried to bring everyone around me down, I guess to compensate for my own lack of happiness, my lack of... content."

Max slowly looked back up at David, who was slowly taking a sip of tea. He outstretched his arm in the direction of the coffee table, and David nodded, picking up his mug of tea and handing it to him. Max took a small sip. It wasn't quite hot enough to burn his tongue, but it was close to it. The heat of the tea going down his throat soothed him, and he hummed softly in relief.

"So what? You see me as a mini you? As your... your..." For lack of a better word, Max spurted it out, "your son?" He meant for there to be a certain amount of malice to his voice, but it came out softer than he meant it to. "Because let's make something clear here, David, I am not, and never will be your son."

"No, no, no, no, I'm just saying that you're a lot like I was when I was your age... And I want you to know that. You don't deserve to feel like I did back then, and I always try to look on the bright side of things to stop that from happening."

"You don't know shit about me, David. Fuck off." Max chugged some of the tea. While the heat was soothing, it was also painful in large amounts like this. Of course, David's instincts kicked in, and he put a hand on Max's, the one he was using to hold the mug to his face.

"Hey, slow down there, you don't wanna get burned..." As usual, concern laced David's voice. Max reluctantly lowered the mug, half of his tea now gone.

"For fuck's sake, David, just tell me where I'll be sleeping and let me go to bed..." Max mumbled, rolling his eyes, "I'll be fine, I'm tired..." He shrugged.

"Alright, well, I have a guest room across the hall from my room, if you wanted to use that..." David suggested, standing up slowly, "Here, I'll guide you there..."

Max reluctantly followed David up the stairs, keeping the blanket draped over his shoulders, and his mug of tea in his hands, both items keeping him warm in the drafty house. David stopped in front of two rooms, one on either side of the hall. "This one," he gestured to the door on his left, "is mine! Only go in there if you need me for anything." He smiled. "This room," he then gestured to the door on his right, opening it slowly, "is yours! Whenever you need a place to stay, this is your room." He assured him.

"Where's the bathroom, moron?" Max asked him, unamused, briefly glancing into the admittedly spacious room he'd been granted.

"Just down the hall, to your left. Take a shower if you'd like. I have some old clothes from my camper days I can set out for you. Don't worry, they're clean." David assured him with a smooth smile.

"Alright, now go the fuck to bed, idiot..." Max rolled his eyes. After wishing him goodnight, David complied and walked into his room, closing the door gently behind him.

Max decided to take up David's offer of a shower. He hadn't gotten one in a while, thanks to his parents. He took a quick shower, unaccustomed to the warm water. Since his parents took long showers before him, he was used to getting stuck in a freezing shower, so this was nice for a change. He savored his time, and took some clothes from that stash of old clothes from David's childhood, using them as pajamas, and probably an outfit for a bit.

When he walked back into his room, he looked around. It was a generally bland room, though it was a decent size, and all to himself. He felt safe in this house. He wouldn't have to hear yelling through the walls, he wouldn't have to deal with the criticism he heard on the other side of his bedroom door, he would just get some peaceful sleep with Mr. Honeynuts.

That is, until he realized he hadn't had the opportunity to bring the bear along. His only source of comfort, of warmth and cuddles, and he hadn't gotten to bring him. He couldn't sleep without Mr. Honeynuts with him.

A bad idea that he had to admit he at least liked a little bit popped into his head. Maybe this would be a good idea. Most of Max screamed at him not to do it, but he needed the sleep that night to deal with people and school the next day. And with no source of comfort or cuddles at night, he couldn't sleep.

Slowly creeping into David's room, Max sighed, surprised to see the man still awake. However, he wasn't on his phone or watching TV. He was staring at the ceiling, almost blankly. Max slowly crawled into his bed, hugging him and pouting. David gasped, smiling and looking down at him. He wrapped his arms around Max protectively.

"Oh, Max, I'm so glad you-"

"If anyone hears about this, you're fuckin' dead."

And with that, the two of them slowly fell asleep like that. For once, Max felt truly safe.


	2. Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max ends up with David a second time. David admits something to Max.

It was about another month later, the next time Max got kicked out of the house. Tears once again streamed down his face. His whole body shook, as he took out his phone, tears clouding his sight as he scrolled through his contact list. Once again, he was faced with the dilemma of who to call.

Neil still lived too far, and while he could've maybe gotten away with it during the day, Max felt awful to disturb them at night. He wasn't sure if he could get away with a sleepover this late, and especially with Nikki, a girl, without having to explain just why his face had the red outline of a hand on it. Gwen had texted the camp group chat that involved just herself and the campers -- they knew if David joined, he'd just spam it frequently -- that she had a new boyfriend who she was living with. While Max would've felt comfortable talking to Gwen about these things, he didn't feel at all comfortable with this complete stranger.

This left Max only one option. He had to call David again. He'd be understanding and pick him up again, Max just knew it. For the second time in a month, he heard the phone ring. After two rings, David picked up. "Hey, Max!" Just as chipper as ever, Max thought.

"Hey... Could you come and pick me up again?" Max asked quietly, almost scared of a rejection. David wouldn't turn him away, right? He wouldn't find it too bothersome this time, call it a one time deal, right? He couldn't do that to him. David was too nice.

"Of course, Max." David's tone was gentle as he spoke to Max. Soft, calming, and reassuring. Everything Max really needed to hear right now. "Same Wawa as before?"

"Please?"

Within twenty minutes this time, David was in the parking lot. Max stood up as David stepped out of the car. The two of them made eye contact. However, there was one distinct difference from last time. Instead of a solid, solemn expression, David instead wore a warm, inviting smile.

Walking slowly over to David, Max grunted in appreciation. He then hopped up into the backseat, going to close the door, but found David was holding it open. "Buckle up, Max."

"I'm not a fucking baby, David. I'm eleven, I don't need a fucking seatbelt." Max glared up at him harshly. In the few times he was ever in a car with his parents, they never wore seatbelts, and they never cared whether he wore one or not.

"Max, even I wear a seatbelt. They aren't for babies, they're for safety." David leaned over Max, buckle in hand, and clicked the seatbelt on him. "God forbid we ever get in a crash, I don't want you going flying and getting even more hurt!"

"No! Seatbelts are for pussies, you're a fucking pussy, David!" Max squirmed against it, however, he didn't unbuckle the seatbelt.

"Language, Max." David reminded him, closing the door and getting in the driver's seat. The reminder calmed Max, at least calming his squirming, as he remembered just who it was he was with, and how futile arguing with David was.

"Fuck off, asshat." Max rolled his eyes, an angry bite to his words, softened by his sadness.

David sighed, starting the car again, buckling his own seatbelt, and focusing on the road. Max was now staring out the window again and noticed David make a turn he hadn't recognized from before. While he'd only been to David's house once, this turn triggered his fight or flight response.

"Where the fuck are you taking me, David?" Max asked sharply, as he sat up more in his seat, leaning towards him. David had been driving in the direction of Max's house, not his own, and Max hadn't stopped to think that David didn't know his address.

"It's a surprise, Max. I can't ruin it." David had a small, almost playful smile on his face as he glanced up at Max in the rearview mirror. Max couldn't help but relax at that. Any surprise from David was meant to be positive. At least to him.

"I fucking swear to god David, if you take me to that shitty camp, I'll fucking run," Max warned, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked out the window, as David turned onto the highway that Max knew too well at this point led in the same direction as Camp Campbell. "Seriously asshole, don't take me to that stupid camp. If you're gonna, let me outta the car now."

"I'm not taking you to Camp Campbell, Max. Just calm down and be patient." David responded calmly, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel gently. He didn't take his eyes off the road at all after that.

After about a half hour of silence, David turned off the highway. Soon enough, the sign on the side of the road popped up, that Max knew well. "Welcome to Sleepy Peak!" it read, now gaining a sneaking suspicion of where David was taking him.

They pulled into the parking lot of Sleepy Peak Pizzeria. "Here we are, Max. I figured I'd take you out for pizza tonight, to cheer you up a bit." David explained, a gentle smile on his face. It was almost contagious. Almost.

Max was unable to stop himself from relaxing a bit as they walked in, sitting at the same booth they'd been in on Parents Day. This was very familiar to Max. The booth, the pizza, even David's expression was the same. There was no cheery smile, only a sad, contemplative frown.

"Max..." David looked down at him, his fingers drumming on the table, "I... You don't have to answer this, but... Which one of them....?" He trailed off, gesturing to Max's face. Instantly, his hand went to his cheek, flinching gently as he touched it.

Max sat silently for a moment, his eyes now on the table. David wouldn't tell the authorities if he said, right? He had enough evidence at this point to get both of them arrested. The evidence and the emotions on David's face so far tonight were both telling Max he could be trusted with the information. "My mom." He spoke quietly.

When he looked up, a new expression rested on David's face that he couldn't quite read. It wasn't familiar to him at all. He looked upset, frowning in discontent. It almost scared Max. Both of them were silent, making eye contact. A minute passed like this before David talked. "I understand, Max." His voice was soft and quiet. "My mom would do the same thing to me, sometimes... The rings always left cuts on my face..." He smiled sadly.

Max's expression fell from bitterness about his own situation to shock and sadness at David's. With the kind of person David was, a bad past was the last thing Max expected of him. In fact, he'd always assumed David had two good, loving parents, who raised him so right, he was just a happy guy. Now he went from shock to confusion. How did David manage to be so happy with shitty parents like his?

He was at a loss for words. He just looked at David, who was now looking down, his fingers drumming faster. Standing up, Max didn't take his eyes off of David. He walked around to David's side of the booth, standing in front of him for a moment. Slowly, David looked down at Max, turning to face him. He almost looked scared of the blank expression on Max's face.

Within the next ten seconds, Max found his arms wrapped tightly around David's waist, his face buried in his chest, as he bear-hugged David. He felt David's arms slowly lower around him, holding him in a protective hug. "I understand what you're going through, Max. You don't deserve it. But know that my door is always open, and I will do what I can to protect you."

A waiter walked over a few minutes later, as they stayed in silence. As they were asked what they wanted, Max heard David answer that they'd like a medium pizza. He was sniffling into his chest, not allowing himself to cry.

David was like him. Maybe he was so happy because he wasn't, Max reasoned. Maybe he was only "happy" when really he was sad on the inside. Or maybe making other people happy was how he dealt with his past, with the way his parents treated him.

"That's why I'll never stop trying." The memory of David's words rang through his head as he thought. "Because somebody fucking has to."

Maybe he was so happy because he thought he needed to be. To keep everyone else happy, keep their heads above the water. If they could do it, he could, too. Max never realized just how many walls David kept up around him. And yet, despite all that, he'd let them come crashing down, just for Max. Finally, he felt like he meant something to someone. Truly, not just in some pathetic, pitying way. He understood that David cared about him.

Max didn't let go of David until the pizza got there. For once, he didn't care that he'd been crying, that he'd been openly vulnerable. He just cared that David cared. They both sat in an oddly comfortable silence, that Max was unfamiliar with. By the time they finished their pizza, Max realized something. His parents were never his home. He'd never really had a home. But this? Maybe this could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda had trouble with this chapter. I hope it was as good as the first one. It's a bit short, and I'd love some feedback! Constructive criticism, whatever feedback you're willing to give. Thanks!


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